Is Your Small Business Going to Survive this recession?

As I have comfortably believed we are not in a recession nor are we going to have to suffer what the media seems to be the grinding halt of the U.S. economy, reports are out today citing just that.Â We are going to be fine.

It is just that the media is fixated on reporting doom and gloom.Â Short of going off into another great blog topic on the Iraq war, the current issue of a recession as portrayed by all media seems to be what generates viewership and of course ratings.

If I won the lottery, I would buy a television channel to report relevant, real and un-spun business news.Â

Bob Willis of Bloomberg reported today, â€œThe index of leading U.S. economic indicators rose in April for a second month, the first back-to- back gain since October 2006, signaling that the current slowdown will be short-livedâ€ (Bob Willis, Bloomberg Press).

Yes, things are a little slow, but not for long.

“The message on the economy is that activity is soft but not moving down sharply,” said Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities America Inc. in New York, who accurately forecast the index’s gain.

“The economy is muddling along.”, (Bob Willis, Bloomberg Press).

This tells me, as is plain to read that we are in fact not so doom and gloom as the media would portray the U.S. economy.

Sure, as small business owners I agree that we should pay attention to news as it relates to the economy, but let us make sure what we are reading and what we are listening to is the right information.Â

I try not to spend my time surfing the Internet for news but sometimes I come across an article that helps me bolster my point that as small business owners we should be paying more attention to strategic goals we create for our businesses rather than economic rhetoric from people who have never owned a small business.

Yes, times are tough, but they are not that tough that we give up now.Â

What we need to do as small business owners is create a plan, a strategic plan to manage our business through the next ten or fifteen months.Â

Stay close to the legitimate news sources, whoever they are, and plan to execute your business strategies accordingly.Â

There will be tough times ahead, but not that tough.

Gas Prices

Ah yes, but then there is the gasoline issue.Â Unfortunately, I cannot contest that one.Â It is what it is.Â It is also a great lesson in supply and demand.Â We demand it, and they supply itâ€¦at a premium price.Â

This is a great lesson for those businesses with a product or service that is so unique and in so much demand that you can strategize around its own supply demand.

Be aware though, that if you are a business that relies on fuel, such as a contractor or a distributor, the cost of doing business will rise and if you are not prepared to recover those costs, you could be in for tough times.Â

Being prepared to absorb costs does not mean cutting back on copy paper or reducing the number of Nextel phones.Â Being prepared means having to operate your business as usual; minus a few tweaks here and there, while recovering your operating costs.